ABC's CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS Broadcast Draws Biggest Audience

During the week of December 16, 2013, ABC was up year to year in Total Viewers (+6% - 5.1 million vs. 4.8 million) for the 3rd straight week and in Adults 18-49 (+9% - 1.2/4 vs. 1.1/3) for the 2nd time in the last 3 weeks.

Wednesday

With encore comedies and "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013," ABC won Wednesday night by double-digits over its nearest competition in Total Viewers (+20% - 7.2 million vs. 6.0 million - CBS) and Adults 18-49 (+20% - 1.8/6 vs. 1.5/5 - NBC).

The Barbara Walters special finished as Wednesday's No. 1 TV show in Total Viewers (8.9 million), Adults 18-49 (2.2/7) and Adults 25-54 (2.7/7). In addition, ABC's repeat "Modern Family" was the No. 2 TV show of the night in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5), outdelivering the Wednesday finale of Fox's "The X-Factor" (1.3/4), as well as NBC's "The Sing Off" (1.6/5).

"Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013" (9:31-11:00 p.m.):

Building on its lead-in at 9:30 p.m., ABC's "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013" dominated its 90-minute time period with Total Viewers and all key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54), over the final half-hour of NBC's "The Sing Off" at 9:30 p.m. and a Michael Buble Christmas special from 10:00-11:00 p.m. On the ABC News special, highlighting some of the year's most prominent names in entertainment, sports, politics and popular culture, Hillary Clinton was named the most fascinating person of 2013.

During the 8 o'clock hour, ABC's second encore this season of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" beat the opening hour of Fox's "The X-Factor" finale by double digits in Total Viewers (+10% - 6.4 million vs. 5.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (+13% - 1.7/5 vs. 1.5/5). In addition, the animated PEANUTS special outperformed NBC's "The Sing Off" (4.5 million and 1.2/4) in The Hour by over 40% in both Total Viewers (+42%) and Adults 18-49 (+42%).

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" was up over its year-ago telecast (5.8 million and 1.7/5 on 12/18/12) by 11% in Total Viewers and held even in Adults 18-49, equaling the special's largest audience for its 2nd broadcast of the season in 4 years - since 2009.

"The Year" (9:00-11:00 p.m. - 5.7 million and 1.4/4 in AD18-49):

From 9:00-11:00 p.m., "The Year" made ABC the No. 1 net in its 2-hour time period with Total Viewers (tie), while also leading its NBC and CBS competition across the key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). Anchored by Robin Roberts, the ABC NEWS Special featured details of all the big stories and news events of the past year.

The special was up 6% year to year in Total Viewers (5.7 million vs. 5.4 million on 12/19/12) to deliver its biggest audience yet.

Friday

With back-to-back repeats of "Shark Tank" from 8:00-10:00 p.m. leading into an original "20/20," ABC ran neck-and-neck with CBS' all original lineup for No. 1 on Friday in Adults 18-49 (pacing within 1-tenth of a rating point and tied in audience share - 1.2/4 vs. 1.3/4).

A special encore telecast of ABC's "Shark Tank" in the 8 o'clock hour dominated its repeat competition by double digits in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4), beating the opening hour of NBC's annual rebroadcast of "It's a Wonderful Life" by 20% (1.0/4) and Fox's "Bones" by 50% (0.8/3).

ABC's "Shark Tank" went into repeat in the 9 o'clock hour and tied CBS' original "Hawaii Five-0" to rank No. 1 in the slot among Adults 18-49 (1.3/4).

Sunday

"The Sound of Music" (7:00-11:00 p.m. - 6.6 million and 1.3/4 in AD18-49):

ABC's rebroadcast of "The Sound of Music" was up over its year-ago telecast (on 12/23/12) in Total Viewers (+27% - 6.5 million vs. 5.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (+18% - 1.3/4 vs. 1.1/3), marking the annual movie's most-watched airing in 6 years and highest-rated among young adults in 3 years - since 2007 and 2010, respectively.

"The Sound of Music" was Sunday's most social non-sports broadcast, with 25,604 tweets and 1.3 tweets per unique user.